1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wind instruments, and more particularly to slides for trombones or other brass wind instruments which achieve pitch changes by variably positioning the slide along cooperating fixed length receiver tube members.
2. Description of the Prior and/or Contemporaneous Art
Of all the brass wind instruments, the slide trombone is one of the most unique. The basic concept of varying the length of instrument tubing through which vibrated air passes to vary the pitch of the resulting sound is common to most brass wind instruments. This effect is usually achieved, in instruments other than trombones, by finger actuated valves which help to selectively form and interpose differently lengthed tubular segments into the flow path of the air. In contrast, the user of a slide trombone varies the tube length thereof and the resulting sound pitch by selectively telescoping the trombone slide which is slidably mounted on a plurality of stationary fixed lengths of tubing, known as receivers, as hereinafter described.
The conventional trombone has a mouthpiece mounted on a fixed length of straight tubing. The trombone also includes a bell from which sound eminates when the instrument is played. A second fixed length of straight tubing is coupled on one end thereof through a U-shaped section of tubing to the bell. A thin, usually cylindrical connector bar physically joins the mouthpiece to the bell portion thereby configuring the two fixed lengths of straight tubing in a substantially parallel relationship. The free end of each of the fixed lengths of tubing, or receivers, terminate in a raised angular section or lip called a "stocking". A U-shaped section of tubing forming a "slide" provides two leg portions each having an inner diameter slightly greater than the outer diameter of the stockings of the fixed length straight members of tubing. The slide is slidably mounted on the two fixed length straight tube members by slipping of the slide legs over the inner tube stockings. Grease or cream is applied to the stockings before the instrument is played and therefore the slide rides freely along the inner tube members thereby varying the length of the tubing through which air travels between the mouthpiece and the bell of the trombone. Extending the tube length of the instument by a slide rather than by valves permits a more continuous, rather than discrete, change in pitch which provides a sound unique to the trombone as compared to other wind instruments.
Unfortunately, the length of tubing required to fabricate a trombone slide which can produce the desired range in pitch is great and the slide, especially in its fully extended or seventh position, makes the slide trombone somewhat difficult to play where space is at a premium. In addition, some musicians with relatively short arms, such as children, are often unable to play the slide trombone because they cannot reach the most extended slide positions. Further, when the slide is in the seventh position, nearly all of the weight thereof is transferred as torque to the two stockings and the associated receiver tube members, resulting in sluggish slide movement.
In attempts to overcome the inherent disadvantages of the conventional slide trombone, various inventors have attempted to reconfigure the slide. In U.S. Pat. No. 673,983 issued to Harrison on May 14, 1901 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,093,993 issued Adriani on Sept. 28, 1937, the providing of two connected U-shaped slides, instead of the typical one, is suggested. Adriani shows a trombone wherein air passes from a mouthpiece through a first U-shaped slide element in a selected plane, into a return bend means, and then into a second U-shaped slide element, in the same plane, the output from the second U-shaped slide element entering a bell portion. The two U-shaped slide elements are connected together such that both elements slide as a single slide element. While shortening the length of the instrument by essentially looping back the slide, this double slide arrangement introduces a serious pitch problem. Similarly, Harrison teaches a trombone essentially the same as Adriani with the two U-shaped slides being adjacently disposed in parallel planes, this configuration also resulting in a pitch problem.
Specifically, these, as well as other slide trombones or such similar slide instruments are made up of two types of tubing: fixed and expandable. The bell portion and the mouthpiece portion are essentially fixed lengths of tubing. In Adriani and Harrison, several relatively lengthy bent sections are employed which also represent fixed lengths of tubing. In addition, the fixed length straight inner tube members on which the slide elements ride are also of a fixed length. The portion of the slide which extends beyond the fixed length inner tube members represents the expandable portion of the tubing. Where it is desirable to achieve the same sound output from a double slide trombone as is achievable from a conventional slide trombone, it is vital that the length and ratios of the fixed tubing to expandable tubing remain unchanged. An examination of Harrison and Adriani suggest that these prior art configurations create a problem in this regard. Harrison includes several large bends which increase the amount of fixed length tubing in the trombone by several inches. Similarly, Adriani provides bends or crooks which similarly greatly increase the amount of fixed instrument tubing length when compared to the conventional single slide trombone.
Based on the prior art, if a double slide trombone is to produce the same pitch output as a conventional single slide trombone in the closed or first position, either (1) the length of the bell portion can be shortened in order to accommodate the addition length resulting from the return bends or crooks or (2) the length of the double slide and the inner tube members on which it travels can be shortened to achieve the first position. However, shortening the length of the double slide and the inner tube members results in an undesirable shortening of the expandable portion of the tubing to a length less than that of the conventional trombone; the seventh or fully extended position and associated pitch thus become unattainable. The increase in fixed tubing in the double slide configurations of Harrison and Adriani thus create a dilemma wherein either the bell portion must be specially designed for the double slide instrument or the first position or the seventh position and their associated pitches become unattainable.
Adriani also teaches a trombone embodiment which is a radical departure from a conventional trombone configuration. Specifically, Adriani proposes a trombone in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 thereof which does not necessarily suffer from the aforementioned pitch problem, but which substitutes for the pitch problem an extremely awkward configuration. In this configuration, all of the receivers and all of the tubes which make up the slide portions of the trombone are disposed in the same horizontal plane when the instrument is played. This creates a tremendously awkward instrument which does not play like a conventional trombone, which creates numerous unacceptable moments of force, and which is virtually impossible to properly grip. Specifically, because the crook interposed between the two slide elements of this configuration is small as a result of the end crooks of the slide portions being of an arbitrary arcuate diameter, the conventional area in which a slide is grabbed in this configuration will not accommodate a human hand. Additionally, use of this planar slide of Adriani will not properly train a musician so that he can quickly transfer to a conventional trombone when the need arises.
Since, as a practical consideration, it is desirable to utilize a conventional bell and to retrofit a slide thereto to produce an instrument capable of the conventional pitch range, the inventions taught by Harrison and Adriani can be seen not to achieve such an end. In the one configuration proposed by Adriani which may solve the pitch problem, it is done in a manner which provides a trombone that most trombone players would consider unplayable because of its extremely awkward configuration.
Thus, while recognizing a specific need in the music field, the prior art instruments do not overcome the problems associated with double slide configurations.